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Thursday, February 23, 2012

As mentioned in my previous post, I had the honour to speak at one of the Social Media Week Hong Kong event titled Getting Social with Smartphone Photography. I want to write a post here to talk about some of the points I mentioned, not so much on the tips because similar to taste, when it comes to photography, what really matters is what the photographer thinks in my opinion (unless of course you are doing it for commercial purposes or have clients requirements to meet). There are of course many guidelines on composition of an image such as the rule of the thirds or golden ratios but again these are established guidelines which will help you understand what makes an image standout in some or many cases. Some are proven some are not, do not be bothered by them since they are guidelines for your reference, the key is to go out, be bold, be adventurous and take more photographs without carrying the buden of any rules! In my opinion, as long as the images you capture reflect your vision or what you wanted to express, they are good photographs.

Now back to the topic of getting social with smartphone photography. My first photography app on my iPhone was the Best Camera and its slogan states that "the Best Camera is the one with you" and I still believe in that even to this date. Anyone who is interested in photography must believe in that in order to truly enjoy photography no matter you are holding an iPhone, smartphone or DSLR. The key is the image you photographed and the vision you want to present with the image. (David duChemins' fan, you may recognize some of the ideas I mentioned and yes I am a big fan of his works, written and photographic works alike)

Photography nowadays can be in many forms or format, it can be taken with a DSLR, smartphone, point and shoot or lomo camera; it matters not the device the image was taken with but what message the photographer intends to deliver with the image within the given frame. I may have mentioned that repeatedly but it is a very important point worth repeating. Even if you don't have a message to deliver, think of a story you want to tell, a story which can be told within the frame you constructed through the viewfinder.

I used to carry a DSLR around town but as many of you understand, it can be quite heavy to carry such a device around. The introduction of smartphone (and its increasingly powerful hardware / lens / software) made a huge impact to all of us. I can now capture the moment without delay and make every second counts. Sometimes make sure you are alert of your surrounding because interesting scenes can pop up without notice!

There are many great portable point and shoot cameras in the market that shoot great images and fits right in your back pocket ... and many have great built-in editing software functions just like how many iPhone photography apps can perform. The key outstanding benefits with smartphone is not in the editing functionalities but the ability to SHARE the images instantaneously to many social media platforms such as Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare and many more as the list continues to grow.

It is the sharing capability that makes smartphone photography so attractive and addictive in certain perspective. Sharing has never been so easy and open before and sharing in my opinion is an act which many of us love to do, including myself.

So please start taking more photographs, start being adventurous, start being creative whenever you feel like. Start with food if you are not sure how, that was how I started to fall in love with photography.